*OK, I know this blog entry is a bit delayed. Been sitting on my draft for too long.*

Nokia no longer comes with music. Nokia announced that it is ending the Nokia Comes With Music service early this year (except China, India, Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa). Nokia Comes With Music is a “buffet style” music service which allows users to download and listen to all the music they want from a catalog of more than 4 million songs. I’ve reviewed the service back in 2009 when it was launched in Singapore. I like the good music quality and large catalog so much that I named it the best unlimited music download service in 2009.

It’s sad to see Nokia ending this great service.

So what is going to happen now that Nokia has decided to end Nokia Comes With Music service?

Well, current Nokia Ovi Music Unlimited customers need not worry as Nokia will continue to offer the full service to existing and new users until the end of their current subscription. They can continue to enjoy unlimited music download until the end of their subscription.

For customers who purchased a Nokia Comes With Music phone but haven’t activated their Ovi Music Unlimited service, they have until 31 Dec 2011 to activate the service. They will still get 12 months of unlimited music download as long as they activate the service before 31 Dec 2011.

After the Ovi Music Unlimited service ended, customers will still be able to access the music that they have downloaded previously. They can also re-download already downloaded tracks for up to 2 years after
the end of their subscription.

There’s no news on how long Nokia will keep the DRM server running. If Nokia shuts down the DRM server, all the music that were downloaded cannot be played. (Which is why I hate DRM) But I’m sure they would make some arrangement if they intend to shut down the DRM server. So don’t worry about this part for now.

How many of you followed the latest tragic events in Japan with the tsunami…and then put into context our floods in Singapore against that kind of disaster.

I am not saying we shouldn’t do anything about the flood. But the amount of noise you made with just sporadic flood compared to the Japanese. I saw them on TV. Very stoic looking. You don’t see them crying. This has happened, just get on, that’s the kind of spirit you want to have and you call it nation building.

Dear SM Sir, with all respect, this comparison came at a very distasteful timing. Everyone around the world is still trying to figure out how we can best help Japan recover from the worst natural disaster that hit the country. Instead of bringing attention to how we Singaporeans can help, you decide to compare this horrible disaster with the flooding in Singapore. I thought only your wife would make distasteful comments like the peanut comment during the NKF saga. I couldn’t believe myself when I saw that news article. I thought you would have known better.

And perhaps you didn’t know that the Earthquake and Tsunami could have claimed many more lives if not for the good planning and preparation from the Japanese Government. The Japanese Government did their best in preparing the country for such disaster. But the Earthquake and Tsunami is just too great even for the most well prepared nation in the world. The people of Japan aren’t complaining because they knew their Government already did their best.

But do you dare say that our Singapore Government did their best in preventing flooding in Singapore? I don’t think so. Neither do a lot of Singaporeans. Most of us are complaining not because our lives are affected by the flooding. Most of us are complaining because we feel that the Singapore Government and PUB didn’t do a good job in preventing the flood. We expected more from you and team. We were disappointed again and again whenever there is a heavy rain.

And look. We are already getting floods whenever there is a heavy rain. What if a Tsunami strikes Singapore? Luckily for everyone, it is near impossible for Singapore to have Tsunami and we don’t need to worry about it. In fact, we should be thankful that Singapore is sheltered from most natural disaster. Because the current Singapore Government is clearly not prepared for any natural disaster judging from the way they handle the flooding.

And I totally disagree that we Singaporeans should keep quiet for the sake of nation building. Keeping quiet when there is flooding is not the kind nation building spirit we want. How can the country progress if the people do not check on the Government? Singapore is a democratic country. The citizen have the freedom of speech. We have the rights to expect nothing but the best from the Government that we elect into office. It is not too much to expect the business district to be flood free. If this Government cannot meet the people’s expectation, then we should have the rights to demand a better team to lead Singapore into the future. This should be the kind of spirit we want to have and we call it nation building. We should expect nothing but the best for Singapore and our children. Not keeping quiet and not say a word when we are given sub-standard quality.

And do you know what spirit we should not have in nation building? We shouldn’t have leaders criticizing their people for voicing out their displeasure. Instead of apologizing for the flooding, the people of Singapore are being criticized for expecting better from the Government. This is not the kind of spirit we want in nation building. The people of Singapore deserve better.

Porn lovers rejoice!!! The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has recently approved .xxx top level domain. Or rather, ICANN has given the final seal of approval for .xxx top level domain. If you recalled, ICANN have already approved .xxx last June. What took them so long?

But it is not going to be easy to get a .xxx domain. Applicant must first complete an application process that will be overseen by the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR). The domains will be limited to the adult industry.

The new .xxx domain to be overseen by ICM Registry. Adult sites that already own .com TLDs will be able to reserve their .XXX domains early. So cybersquatter can forget about snatching domain names like playboy.xxx or even xxx.xxx.

Isn’t it great that there’s a special top level domain for porn? I always think of this song whenever I hear news of the .xxx TLD.

There are some protest over ICANN’s decision to allow .xxx top level domain name. Free speech advocates argued that the .xxx top level domain will result in more censorship on the internet. The porn industries felt that they are “forced” to buy their company’s version of the .xxx TLD. Anti-pornography campaigners argued that the move legitimises the sex industry. You just can’t please everyone.

After more than 1/2 year of beta testing, RIM finally release BlackBerry Protect v1.0 in in App World for all European, Middle Eastern, and African users. The official launch for Asia-Pacific users will take place in the near future. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and hope the wait won’t be too long. BlackBerry Protect is a very useful tool which I would highly recommend every BlackBerry user to get when it is launched in your region.

Not sure if you noticed but the moon appears to be bigger tonight. According to some news article, the moon tonight is closer to Earth than that it has been in more than 18 years. This is due to some orbital thing which I think is too complicated for me to explain.

If you have the chance, head out and enjoy the view of the full moon. Even better, view it together with someone you love.

Sometimes, I wonder if we are looking at the same moon even though we are so far apart.